Ephesians
1:13-14 In
him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise
of his glory.
At the right time, appointed
by him, God effectually calls all those and only those whom he has predestined
to life. He calls them by his Word and Spirit out of their natural state of sin
and death into grace and salvation through Jesus Christ. He enlightens their
minds spiritually with a saving understanding of the things of God. He takes
away their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh. He renews their
wills and by his almighty power leads them to what is good. And so he
effectually draws them to Jesus Christ. But they come to Jesus voluntarily,
having been made willing by God’s grace.
This effectual call is
freely made by God and is entirely an act of his special grace. It does not depend
on anything God foreknew or foresaw about the person called, who is completely passive.
God himself gives life and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He thereby enables each
person to answer his call and to accept the grace he offers and actually gives.
Others may be called by the ministry of the Word, and the
Spirit may work in them in some of the same ways he works in the elect.
However, they never truly come to Christ and therefore cannot be saved. And, of
course, people, not professing the Christian religion, cannot be saved in any
other way at all, no matter how hard they try to live a moral life according to
their own understanding or try to follow the rules of some other religion. To
say they can be saved is extremely harmful and should be denounced.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith
